All the Arts, All the Time

At long last, some measurable progress at ground zero

August 11, 2011 | 4:25
pm

There have been moments -- many moments -- when it seemed the rebuilding effort at the World Trade Center site might never be finished. But next month, to mark the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a significant portion of the rebuilt area -- the long-awaited and much-altered memorial to the victims -- will finally open.

Designed by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker, the memorial, as I make clear in this review, hasn't escaped the deal-making and sometimes maddening course of compromise that has marked the rebuilding process as a whole.

But at its heart, the memorial has come through at least somewhat intact. And at ground zero, that is saying quite a bit.